On Monday- Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays sat down at the kitchen table with John Pfeiffer, Jr to talk with the newest member of the Oklahoma Ag Hall of Fame.

John’s family is one that stretches back to before statehood- and it includes Angus cattle all the way back to 1907. His great grandfather bought his first Angus bull that year- and his family has had black hided cattle grazing the pastures around Orlando ever since.

John credits being a part of Class One of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program as that point where he understood the importance of involving himself in service to the local community and the larger ag community as well. He says that after he graduated from that program- that’s when he started serving on local boards- and eventually on the American Angus Association Board of Directors- becoming the Chairman of Certified Angus Beef and after that, the President of the American Angus Association.

We will be featuring our visit with John the next couple of days on our daily Beef Buzz- but wanted to celebrate John's special day at the State Capitol that is today by sharing with you our conversation with him- take a listen- I learned a great deal about our friend and we laughed a lot along the way.

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U.S. winter wheat condition was rated 45 percent good to excellent as of Sunday, April 20, down from 47 percent last week, according to USDA NASS’ latest Crop Progress report of the year released on Monday.

Oklahoma's Winter wheat conditions rated 39 percent good to excellent, 44 percent fair, and 17 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 44 percent good to excellent, 39 percent fair, and 17 percent poor to very poor.

Alternately, our neighbors also saw a decline in wheat conditions - Kansas has their wheat crop rated 41% good to excellent versus 43% last week. Meanwhile, Texas wheat conditions rated 27 percent good to excellent, up from 23 percent last week.

Pasture and range conditions in Oklahoma rated 36 percent good to excellent, 43 percent fair, and 21 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 39 percent good to excellent, 42 percent fair, and 19 percent poor to very poor.

Range and pasture conditions in Texas rated 23 percent good to excellent, 38 percent fair, and 39 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 19 percent good to excellent, 30 percent fair, and 51 percent poor to very poor.

Dr. Derrell Peel Explains Slow Path to Rebuilding the US Cowherd

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays talked to OSU Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel after the latest USDA Cattle-on-Feed Report was released last week. In Friday’s BeefBuzz, Dr. Peel analyzed the numbers. Here, he is discussing rebuilding the nation’s cowherd.

Dr. Peel explained that his basic outlook hasn’t changed in about two years, a period which he described as the longest in his career that something hasn’t come up to change things. “The only thing we’ve done is we’ve extended it farther because it is really this heifer retention question. We’ve been slow to start. We may be starting now, and that may lead to some different things to say at some point, but really it has been the same message for a long time, with the exception, of course, that we are in a much more volatile external environment that the cattle market is working in right now.”

Politics, trade debates, and macroeconomic aspects are the contributing factors to the volatility of the environment; however, they haven’t changed the overall outlook.

This week, our coverage of the 2025 Oklahoma FFA Star Award Finalists continues with Agribusiness competitor Bailey Faires of the Stroud FFA chapter representing the Central Area.

“I raise English bulldogs and dachshund puppies,” Faires shared. “I started raising dachshunds in 2013, and got my first English bulldog in 2019, and I’ve just been trucking along ever since.”

Faires was following in her mother’s footsteps with the puppies, but she also loves breeding, training, and selling horses. “I just wanted something that little me could do in 2013, so I got my first dachshund and I was so happy. My mom helped so much with raising my first litter. Then we bought a trailer load of horses, and I got a free English bulldog puppy. That got me into them. They are a lot of work, but I’ve had so much fun.”

Second-grade teachers can now enroll their classrooms in a watermelon-growing contest through the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture’s fifth-annual Watermelon Challenge.

During the challenge, students will grow their very own watermelon from seeds provided by the foundation for a chance to win prizes. The challenge illustrates the hard work and effort Oklahoma farmers and ranchers undertake when growing and raising food.

Schools participating in the challenge will receive watermelon seed packets, an activity book and resources with lessons for each student in their classroom. After teachers work through the provided lessons, students and their families are encouraged to plant the watermelon seeds at home.

Watermelon seeds can be planted from late-April to mid-May, but the soil temperature must be 70 degrees for the seeds to germinate. To find soil temperatures in your area, visit the Oklahoma Mesonet system.

Resilience, relationships and raising quality beef—that’s the message the Gardiners brought to center stage at the recent Certified Angus Beef (CAB) Foodservice Leaders Summit.

Mark Gardiner and his son, Cole, of Gardiner Angus Ranch offered a boots-on-the-ground perspective for CAB specialists attending the annual event, designed to deliver resources that help train foodservice teams and serve consumers at a higher level. Kara Lee, director of producer engagement at CAB, served as moderator of the panel session.

“Attendees at the CAB Foodservice Leaders Summit are our front-line sales force in the restaurant industry,” Lee said. “In a competitive beef market with high prices, it’s crucial we equip them with tools to overcome sales objectives by highlighting Certified Angus Beef’s quality merits, marketing support, profit potential and brand story.”

The father-son duo shared their story of serving up superior customer service and generations of resiliency.